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The Supreme Court denied certiorari in the latest matter related to Jeffrey Skilling. See here Skilling is still subject to resentencing resulting from the Supreme Court decision that held that the honest services provision of mail fraud (section 1346) would be limited to bribery and kickbacks.

Many companies, as part of their compensation and benefits packages, have indemnification agreements that allow for payment of attorney fee expenses to company officers, directors, and others. Some may be surprised to learn that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have such agreements as part of Enterprise Bylaws or individual agreements. "Between 2004 and October 31, 2011, Fannie Mae advanced $99.4 million in legal expenses to cover the representation of" three former officers "in connection with government investigations and lawsuits stemming from accounting irregularities uncovered in 2004." The Office of Inspector General issued a report that offers some suggestions on reducing future costs. The "evaluation was led by Director of Special Projects David Z. Seide, and Investigative Counsel Stephen P. Learned contributed to its completion." The report can be found here.

Check out Crime in the Suites Blog here, written by Ifrah law. An Interview with Jeff Ifrah:

Q: Why did you start the blog?

A: We wanted to share our analysis of breaking news in the white collar crime area. The blog is an opportunity to demonstrate to current and prospective clients our understanding and expertise on compelling issues in white collar representation.

Q: What is the purpose of the blog?

A: We want to generate news rather than just commenting on existing stories. We want to be a place where news is first reported rather than only analyzing cases in a public forum. We do this by being the first to identify and discuss an up and coming legal issues. For example, we were among the first to identify a circuit split in the GPS case, and noted that the issue was likely to be heard by the Supreme Court. (It was later granted cert). Similarly, we identified a circuit split between the DC Circuit and the Ninth Circuit regarding legislative privilege. Because we were among the first to discuss this, news outlets called us as experts when the story gained widespread interest.

Q: How long did it take before the media began relying on Crime in the Suites as a new source?

A: It took about a year and a half of building up credibility. Generally, the stories that the media picks up on are ones that aren’t really out there yet. For example, when there was discussion of creating a whistleblower provision in the FCPA, we took a strong stand on that on why that didn’t make sense, and it was picked up by the Wall Street Journal.

Q: What makes readers come to Crime in the Suites?

A: We have the experience and expertise in high profile cases that allows us to comment knowledgably about pending cases and decisions. Being litigators with 20 plus years of experience, we have seen how prosecutors and legislators respond to a wide range of situations. When those issues come up again, we can draw on that experience and anticipate how they will handle them.

Q: How widely is the blog read?

A: We have subscribers and followers in 41 countries and we average 2000 hits per week.